Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

This is a pretty simple recipe and so much better than anything you can buy in the store, believe me. I bought a simple Cuisinart 2-Qt Ice Cream Maker at Costco about 10 years ago and it’s more than paid for itself with the delicious ice cream I’ve made with it. Salted Caramel, Chocolate, Limoncello, and of course Vanilla Bean. Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

4 2/3 cups half and half*

1 whole vanilla bean

7 eggs divided (3 whole and 4 yolks)

1 1/8 cup sugar

2 tsp of vanilla extract (use the real stuff, not that fake crap)

Directions

In a medium pot combine the half and half and vanilla bean, which you want to split in 1/2 (but not all the way, leave on end whole to keep it together). Use the blunt side to the knife to scrape the seeds and add them in too. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Reduce to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a medium bowl combine the eggs, yoke and sugar. Use a hand mixer on medium speed until it’s thick and smooth. It will start to look like yellow mayonnaise. This takes about 2-3 minutes.

Take the vanilla bean out of the half and half. Slowly pour a ladle of the mixture into the eggs stirring constantly. Repeat this until you have 4 ladles fully incorporated. Now slowly add the egg mixture back into the half and half, stiring constantly. Why do you do this? If you add the eggs in directly they’ll scramble and you’ll have a mess. This way you’re slowly bring them up to temp without over cooking them.

Cook on medium-low heat until it starts to thicken. You’ll know when it’s done when you can dip a spoon in, run your finger down the back, turn it sideways, and it doesn’t run back down the spoon erasing your swipe.

Take it off the heat and whisk in the vanilla. Then pour it through a strainer into a medium bowl. This will make sure you don’t have any lumps. Let it cool on the counter for about 20 minutes, then put plastic wrap directly on top of the mixture. This will prevent a “skin” from forming on the top. Refridgerate for a couple of hour (or more). Then run it through your ice-cream maker.

*if you don’t have half and half then do 2 1/3 cups heavy cream and 2 and 1/3 cups whole milk.